Phyllis Diller papers, 1934-2011

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Summary

Creators:
Diller, Phyllis
Abstract:
This collection includes business papers, correspondence, sheet music, media, and memorabilia from the private collection of comedian and actress Phyllis Diller. Diller broke ground as one of the first and most prominent woman comedians through her stand-up act, films, television appearances, books, and records. Post-retirement in 2002, Diller wrote an autobiography titled Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy (2005), turned her hobby of drawing and painting into another career, and has continued to make appearances on television and in film.
Extent:
51.5 Linear Feet (75 boxes)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Phyllis Diller papers (Collection Number 1893). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes correspondence (1969-2010, bulk 2005-2010); contracts and itineraries related to various stand-up, film, and television appearances; books of jokes and gags by Diller and other writers (dated 1964-1988); sheet music from Diller's time at Sherwood Music Conservatory, from her TV series The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show (1968), and from other performances; extensive clippings from magazines and periodicals (dated 1957-2011, bulk 1992-2007); a representative wig and costume; filmed performances and television appearances (mostly on 16mm and 35mm); Diller's published books and record albums; playbills, programs and pamphlets for shows that Diller starred in or attended; and ephemera and souvenirs from Diller's career.

Biographical / historical:

Phyllis Ada Driver was born on July 17, 1917 in Lima, OH. She studied at the Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago, IL for three years, beginning in fall 1934. She married Sherwood Anderson Diller, and the couple and their children moved from Ypsilanti, MI to Alameda, CA in 1945. Diller began her career as writer and women's editor for the San Leandro News-Observer. From June 1951 to 1954, Diller's jobs included: head of newspaper and radio ad copy in the advertising office of Kahn's, a department store in Oakland, CA; copywriter, publicist, and continuity girl at the radio station KROW in Oakland, CA; and, finally, director of promotion and merchandising at KSFO radio in San Francisco, CA. Her copywriting was distinguished by its comedic flair.

Diller performed in several small and semi-professional venues before getting a lengthy gig at The Purple Onion, a nightclub in San Francisco, CA in March 1955. Following this successful run, she gave opening performances at The Purple Onion in Los Angeles, CA in summer 1956. In Los Angeles, Diller made her first national television appearance as a contestant on the NBC game show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Thereafter, she toured the country, performing in major nightclubs such as Mister Kelley's in Chicago, IL, The Blue Angel and The Bon Soir in New York, NY (where she worked with a young Barbra Streisand), The Crescendo in Los Angeles, CA, and The Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, FL. Diller's stand-up act pushed the envelope by lampooning women's roles in the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, she broke from the tradition set by male comedians who complained about their wives by creating a fictional husband, the ne'er-do-well Fang.

Around 1958, Diller made the first of many appearances on The Tonight Show and The Jack Paar Show, the latter for which she eventually became a writer. These appearances brought her heightened success, and led to her discovery by Bob Hope. Diller worked with Hope for decades, performing with him on 23 television specials, in the feature films Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1960), Eight on the Lam (1967), and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968), and as part of his USO troupe in Vietnam in 1966. Diller's film work from this period also includes Splendor in the Grass (1962) and voice work in the Rankin/Bass animated film Mad Monster Party (1967). Beginning in the 1960s, Diller became a household name through many TV appearances featuring her stand-up act. She also starred in two short-lived TV series, the half-hour sitcom The Pruitts of Southhampton (later titled The Phyllis Diller Show, 1966-67) and the musical variety show The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show (1968). From 1961-1970, Diller recorded five albums and published four books. She concluded the 1960s with her Broadway debut in Hello Dolly!

Recent film roles include voice work in Disney's A Bug's Life (1998) and the documentary The Aristocrats (2005). Recent television work includes recurring roles on the series Titus (2001-02), 7th Heaven (1999-2003), The Bold and the Beautiful (1999-2004), and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2002-2004).

In May 1971, Diller drew upon her training as a pianist and made her debut in a concert with Pittsburgh Pops, initiating 10 years of work as a concert pianist. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Diller continued frequent appearances on the stage and screen, and became known as one of the first celebrities to proudly admit to having had plastic surgery.

In 2002, Diller retired from stand-up comedy work. Her final performance, at the Suncoast Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, is captured in the documentary Good Night, We Love You (2006). Post-retirement, Diller wrote an autobiography titled Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy (2005), turned her hobby of drawing and painting into another career, and has continued to make appearances on television and in film.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Phyllis Diller, November 2007.
Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

Processed by Ben Sher in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Megan Hahn Fraser, August 2011.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Correspondence
  2. Job Folders and Other Activities
  3. Jokes and Gags
  4. Photographs
  5. Sheet Music
  6. Clippings
  7. Publications
  8. Playbills and programs
  9. Ephemera and souvenirs
  10. Media
  11. Costumes

Physical / technical requirements:

CONTAINS UNPROCESSED DIGITAL MATERIALS: Digital materials are not currently available for access and will require further processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email spec-coll@library.ucla.edu.

Physical location:

Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Boxes 72, 73 & 76 shelved in Range 22, B-level stacks. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Phyllis Diller papers (Collection Number 1893). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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